Department for Transport

Aviation: Fuels

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the combustion of synthetic fuels or biofuels of similar chemical composition to fossil kerosene has the same net radiative forcing effect as burning fossil kerosene when used as aviation fuel.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Aviation has climate impacts from both CO2 emissions and other (non-CO2) emissions, that need to be addressed. The impact of CO2 emissions can be quantified, while scientific evidence suggests that non-CO2 impacts from aviation currently represent two thirds of the net effective radiative forcing (ERF). However, this is not a fixed number and is scenario dependent, and there are large uncertainties that exist over the magnitude of non-CO2 impacts on the climate. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) can deliver significant greenhouse emission savings. Scientific evidence suggests that SAF could also have a positive impact in reducing non-CO2 emission impacts. Recent research indicates that SAF can produce 50-70% fewer soot particles, which could reduce the overall warming effect of contrails. Through the Jet Zero Strategy, we aim to address non-CO2 emissions by better developing our understanding of their impacts and potential mitigations.

Electric Vehicles

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the FairCharge reportDriving away from fossil fuels: consumer attitudes to electric vehicles, published in July, whether they will introduce the recommendations that (1) "the proportion of new cars required to be Battery Electric Vehicles should be set at the level of the Climate Change Committee’s Balanced Net Zero Pathway", and (2) there should be "further consumer incentives for lower income drivers, such as zero-interest loan schemes".

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The UK zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate will set targets requiring a percentage of manufacturers’ new car and van sales to be zero emission each year from 2024. The technical consultation on the design of this ZEV mandate and proposed trajectories closed in June 2022. The Department is now analysing consultation responses, and will bring forward the Government’s response, and a full regulatory proposal, in due course. The Government has no plans to introduce a zero-interest loan scheme for electric vehicle (EV) drivers. In many cases, EVs continue to benefit from significant savings on the cost of fuel. Charging a medium-sized electric car at home at rates equivalent to the electricity price cap from 1 October equates to around half the cost of filling up an equivalent petrol vehicle. In addition, EVs generally cost less to maintain due to fewer moving parts than their petrol or diesel equivalents.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Housing: Energy

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask His Majesty's Government what long-term impact assessments are required for home insulation and energy efficiency products in order for them to qualify for the PAS2035 standard.

Lord Callanan: Products used within the PAS 2035 process for measures referenced in the Annexes of PAS 2030:2019 standard must be compliant with the relevant British Standards which are referred to within the PAS 2035 document. These products are tested and certified by specialist industry bodies such as The British Board of Agrément (BBA), which include robust processes including research, auditing and inspection of the respective products. Products that have been tested and certified as safe and fit-for-purpose by product certification bodies are subjected to continuous inspection to ensure they remain so.

Energy: Conservation

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to introduce new energy efficiency standards; and when they expect those standards to be introduced.

Lord Callanan: The Government is considering a number of options for increasing energy efficiency standards. For the domestic Private Rented Sector, the Government has consulted on raising the standard to EPC Band C for new tenancies from 1 April 2025, and for all tenancies by 1 April 2028. The Government has also consulted on raising the minimum energy efficiency standard of privately rented non-domestic buildings to EPC C by 1 April 2027, and EPC B by 1 April 2030. The Department have analysed the responses, and we will publish the Government Responses in due course.

Cabinet Office

Former Ministers: Redundancy Pay

Lord Campbell-Savours: To ask His Majesty's Government whether ministers appointed by Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss who were either (1) demoted, or (2) dismissed on the appointment of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are entitled to (a) severance, or (b) any other form of payment for the period during which they were in office.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: ​​Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, Ministers who leave office are entitled to receive a payment equal to a quarter of their annual salary. This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.Salary entitlements for ministers are set out in Schedule One of the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975, and ministerial salary information is published on GOV.UK.

Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Hospitals

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of (1) a report byBioMed Central (BMD) which suggests that the average length of stay in hospital for COVID-19 patients in England is between 16-29 days; and (2) a report by the US National Library of Medicine which suggests that estimated hospital costs per day for COVID-19 patients in England are (a) £876 for patients not in intensive care units (ICU) or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), (b) £1978 for patients in ICU, without IMV, (c) £2043for patients not in ICU with IMV, and (d) £3145for patients in ICU and with IMV.

Lord Markham: No specific assessment has been made. Since the start of the pandemic, progress has been made in improving the treatment of COVID-19 in the community. This has helped to reduce hospital admissions, with individuals at the highest potential risk from COVID-19 infection benefiting from access to the latest and potentially life-saving therapies, including antivirals and monoclonal antibody treatments.The Government has also recognised the cost to the National Health Service of managing new pressures from COVID-19 and increased overall NHS resource funding by £36 billion over the last two years.

Patient Choice Schemes

Lord Warner: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the training and support currently delivered to GPs to ensure that they make patients aware of their choices when selecting a provider for consultant-led treatment.

Lord Markham: The National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups Responsibilities and Standing Rules Regulations 2012 state that integrated care boards and NHS England, in exercising its commissioning functions, have a duty to ensure that the awareness and availability of choice is publicised to referrers and patients. NHS England has regulatory oversight and operational implementation of patient choice and provides advice and guidance to the public, patients, referrers, commissioners and providers on the choices available in England and how patient choice can be facilitated.

Sickle Cell Diseases: Prescriptions

Baroness Benjamin: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 27 October (HL2574), what assessment they have made of the financial impact of suspending prescription charges for 2022/23 on people living with sickle cell disease.

Lord Markham: No specific assessment has been made and we have no plans to implement a suspension. However, officials are working with organisations in the health and care system on how we can continue to protect the health of those with sickle cell disease. NHS England has also launched a sickle cell clinical pathway review, with contributions from patients living with sickle cell disease. Recommendations from this review will be made to NHS England’s Executive Quality Group at the end of November 2022.

Ministry of Justice

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Interpreters

Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government when the invitation to tender for the new contract for provision of court and tribunal spoken word interpreters will be issued.

Lord Bellamy: The Ministry of Justice has been assessing options for tendering the new contract for provision of spoken word interpreters. Our plans remain commercial in confidence at this time. Information will be published to the market in due course.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Iraq: Chemical Weapons

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 21 June (HL724), what assessment they have made of further reports of chemical weapons being used against the Kurds in Northern Iraq.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger: To ask His Majesty's Government, as a member of the OPCW (Organisation for the Prevention of use of Chemical Weapons), what plans they have, if any, to request an investigation into the allegations of chemical weapons being used against the Kurds in Northern Iraq.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK takes all allegations of chemical weapons use seriously. The use of chemical weapons is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and is a clear threat to international peace and security. We will continue to uphold and protect the Convention's ban on the use of chemical weapons. The Government is aware of reports that chemical weapons were used in northern Iraq. We have no direct evidence to support these claims. We continue to monitor reports of use of riot control agents in Northern Iraq.

Tigray: Famine

The Duke of Montrose: To ask His Majesty's Government whatresources they are providing to the administration in Tigray to assist with the famine in that area; and what steps they are taking to increase such resources.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: We welcome the recent peace agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. We hope this will lead to unfettered humanitarian access and the restoration of essential basic services. In the last eighteen months the UK has provided almost £90 million of humanitarian support to people affected by crises throughout Ethiopia. Our support has reached civilians in Tigray and other regions.

Ethiopia: War Crimes

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the peace process in Ethiopia; and what representations they plan to make to the government of Ethiopia on the need to investigate atrocity crimes committed in recent months and bring those responsible to account.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: We welcome the recent peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and Tigray People's Liberation Front and the agreement to implement a comprehensive national transitional justice policy aimed at accountability, redress for victims, reconciliation, and healing. We have long called for accountability for the many atrocities and human rights violations and abuses carried out by all parties to this conflict, and are providing support to build the investigative capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.The former Minister for Development raised justice and accountability on several occasions with the Ethiopian Ambassador and our Ambassador to Ethiopia has raised regularly with the Ethiopian Government. We continue to support the International Commission for Human Rights Experts in Ethiopia, and urge all parties to co-operate with the Commission.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Compost

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make (1) regulatory, or (2) other, responses to findings in the Big Compost Study which concluded that 60 per cent of items sold as "home compostable" did not degrade in homes under real world conditions.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: HM Government has no immediate plans to regulate in this area but welcomes the findings from UCL’s study into the home composting of plastics and will use this to inform our evidence base. The study has shown that home composting is not a viable destination for managing plastic waste and this echoes HM Government’s existing position to prioritise the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastics before anything else. In April 2021 we published our response to the call for evidence on the need for standards for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics. The Government response acknowledges that compostable plastics must be treated in industrial composting facilities to be broken down and, when processed incorrectly, can be a source of microplastics and contaminate recycling streams. Therefore, our focus will be on reducing unnecessary consumption and working towards a circular economy, not composting of plastics.

Water Companies: Fines

Baroness Redfern: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to reports that the fines paid by water companies in England and Wales will be reimbursed to customers, whether the bills that customers receive will be itemised to show the reduction on their individual bills.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: HM Government welcomes the robust regulatory response from Ofwat to incentivise water companies to deliver for their customers, the environment and wider society. The financial penalties imposed for missing performance commitments will rightly be returned to customers in the next financial year. There is no requirement from HM Government for companies to itemise these reductions on individual customer bills and individual company billing practices will differ.

Wildlife: Crime

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce (1) sentencing guidelines for (a) raptor persecution, and (b) other wildlife crimes, and (2) vicarious liability for landowners and tenants in England and Wales employing those convicted of such crimes.

Lord Benyon: HM Government takes wildlife crime seriously. Significant sanctions are available to judges to hand down to those convicted of wildlife crimes. Raptor persecution is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey and other wildlife. Most wildlife crimes carry up to an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. Sentencing those convicted of wildlife crimes, including raptor persecution, is a matter for judges; these decisions are rightly taken independently of HM Government. Within the maximum limits it is up to the court to decide the appropriate sentence, having considered the facts of the case.However, HM Government does recognise that stakeholders are often disappointed with the sentences that are passed down for wildlife crimes. The UNODC Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit Report, published in 2021, suggested that support should be given to the Sentencing Council for England and Wales in developing prescriptive sentencing guidelines, where appetite permits. As with all the recommendations of the report, it will be considered by the relevant agencies.Defra does not currently have any plans to introduce vicarious liability in England. The introduction of new regulation, such as vicarious liability, requires evidence that it will be effective. In the context of wildlife crimes, vicarious liability was introduced into Scotland by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011. HM Government is not aware of any compelling evidence that the introduction of the provisions in Scotland has had a significant deterrent effect on those who persecute birds of prey. We will continue to monitor the situation in Scotland to consider whether this, or a similar offence such as strict liability, is necessary and proportionate to assist in tackling wildlife crime in England.

Home Office

Police: Football

Lord Pendry: To ask His Majesty's Government whatestimate they have made of the cost of policing football clubs in the coming season; and what comparison they have made with the previous season.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: This information is not collected centrally.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Regional Planning and Development: Public Appointments

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask His Majesty's Government how many Regional Levelling Up Directors have been appointed so far.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: To ask His Majesty's Government what the annual pay rate will be for a Regional Director of Levelling Up.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The Government is committed to delivering Levelling Up. The posts were advertised at salaries of up to £144,000 per annum. No appointments have yet been made. More details will be available in due course.

Northern Ireland Office

Health Services and Social Services: Northern Ireland

Lord Empey: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the impact the absence of the Northern Ireland Health Minister will have on the delivery of health and social care services in Northern Ireland this winter; and what steps they intend to take to ensure the safe delivery of critical services.

Lord Caine: The Government is acutely aware of the pressures facing the health service in Northern Ireland. The absence of a functioning Executive is exacerbating the severe challenges that the healthcare system in Northern Ireland is facing.People in Northern Ireland deserve locally-elected decision-makers who are working for them to address these important issues. That is the best way to progress the necessary long term solutions to healthcare and make best use of the substantial UK Government funds announced in the Autumn Statement which will see the budget to the Northern Ireland Executive increase by £650m over two years.In the absence of an Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland outlined to Parliament on Wednesday 9 November, and which I shared with the House on 14 November, his intention to introduce legislation to enable Northern Ireland Departments to maintain delivery of all vital public services including health and social care.

Department for International Trade

Trade Promotion: China

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the brief of the new Trade Envoy for the Indo-Pacific includes the promotion of trade with China.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Richard Graham MP has been reappointed as PMs Trade Envoy to Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and ASEAN. The role does not include the promotion of trade with China.

Iron and Steel: Russia

Baroness Redfern: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the volumes of Russian steel entering the UK that have been processed in third countries; and whether steel entering the country in this way would violate existing sanctions.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The UK has been at the forefront of efforts to restrict imports from key Russian industries following their illegal invasion of Ukraine. This includes steel products, where we have banned the import of all finished steel, and put in place tariff increases of 35 percentage points on all steel. Since April, the UK has imported no steel defined as finished or semi-finished directly from Russia. The Government recognises that any circumvention of sanctions measures through third countries undermines their wider impact, and we are working alongside international partners to address any potential loopholes in our sanctions regimes.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Football: Clubs

Lord Pendry: To ask His Majesty's Government whether their assistance with rising energy costs will extend to football clubs.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: His Majesty’s Government recognises the importance of football clubs, both professional and at grassroots level, which provide valuable opportunities for communities to come together and to take part in sport.The Government also understands the impact rising energy prices will have on organisations of all sizes. In September we announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, under which businesses and other non-domestic energy users will be offered support. This includes support to football clubs.After an initial six months of the scheme, the Government will provide ongoing focused support for vulnerable industries. A review is currently underway to determine where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

Football: Clubs

Lord Pendry: To ask His Majesty's Government whatplans they have to reduce the restrictions placed on football clubs wishing to upgrade their facilities.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Many clubs choose to upgrade their facilities, or do so to meet league and safety requirements. All facilities for football clubs must meet the requirements prescribed by their league organiser, the relevant football authority, the Sports Ground Safety Authority, the relevant local authority, and legislation. This ensures that facilities, particularly stadia, are appropriate and safe for all. Football clubs may be subject to the same planning restrictions as any other business or community facility.His Majesty’s Government confirmed in July that Premier League and Championship clubs wishing to introduce licensed ‘safe standing’ areas at football stadia can apply to do so from the beginning of the current season, increasing the range of options football clubs can offer their supporters when considering their facilities.

Electronic Commerce

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the Electronic Trade Documents Bill [HL] would have, if enacted, broken down by local authority area.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: His Majesty’s Government has conducted its own impact assessment of the benefits of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill and found that, in our best estimate scenario, the benefits to UK businesses involved in international trade will be £1.137 billion over 10 years. We intend to publish the impact assessment shortly.There is a diverse and geographically dispersed range of businesses involved in international trade in the UK, according to ONS figures. In 2020, there were 263,000 exporting businesses in the UK, 124,000 of which exported goods; further ONS estimates show that around 75% of UK businesses which exported in 2020 are based outside London. Current research does not allow us to assess impacts at the local authority level, however.